Thursday, January 5, 2012

Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon

One of my Christmas gifts this year is the current edition of the Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon. This is my first Falcon as I do not have any of the previous versions either from Lego or Action figure scale. Above is the image of the front top of the completed set. Looks pretty reasonable and is instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the series.

Here is the other side. I forgot to get a picture of the back but this side picture does show one of the problems with the set. The front mandibles just do not look quite right. They are about the right length but they are too narrow and steep in slope. This is caused by having the cockpit area up to far toward the front of the ship. I understand why the designers did this as the cockpit is barely big enough for two minifigs but is oversized compared to the rest of the model. Moving the cockpit from the current 1:30 o'clock position to a more proper 2:00 o'clock position would mess up the top design and make the cockpit look even bigger. Overall not a bad representation for a play level set but not perfect.

Here is the ship with the top open. It opens out with several small flaps. This is similar in design to the last play scale Falcon but these are fairly snug so the ship can be flipped over without them all opening totally up. You can see that the cockpit cover pops off to open it up. To get 2 minifigs inside you have to stagger their seating arrangement. There is a Ultimate Collectors Series Falcon that was made a few years ago that has seating for 4 in the cockpit and is a better scale but it is out of production and at the current pricing for Lego Star Wars Sets it would probably run like 600+ dollars(four times more than this kit) which is a bargain compared to ebay prices for it currently.

Here we have a little closer shot of the front interior. Computer system and game table make up the detailing. The inside is more spacious than the last play version but is sort of under modeled with accent bits. I will probably work on upgrading the inside later.

Here is a play feature where they have placed a smuggling compartment where a minifigure can hide below the deck level.

Here is the back interior. I am not sure what the long benches are. Maybe they are the sleeping area. The round parts in the back are the engine. Again this detailing level is disappointingly low.

Here we see Luke coming up the boarding ramp which is on the opposite side from the smuggling compartments. You can also see the training drone waiting for light saber practice in this photo.

The ship also has an area to place the gunners for the two quad laser cannons. Attach the minifigure to the base and then slide it along the rail into the center of the ship.

Ofcourse, with the cannons mounted you cannot see the figures inside but at least a little extra detail that aids the imagination.

A major let down with the ship is the underside. Essentially all you have for detailing is the cannons and some flick fire concussion missiles which do not have any hiding place. The landing gear can be removed but do not retract. The are also way to small making the ship so low that the minifigs even ducking do not look like they can get under. The bottom has none of the proper sloping from the top.

Here are the six minifigs with the set. New Hope Characters who ride in the Falcon during that movie plus Vader. Luke has a normal face and hair plus the blast helmet with shield down face. One of the changes to the figures is that they now have whites in their eyes. Leia's hair is also darker than our other versions. The ship does not have the Droids though but a new set with the Tantive IV escape pod this year has them in a 20 dollar set. I already have like 3 R2-D2 and a C-3PO so that is not really a problem for character play with my daughter. This is our first Obiwan, we had been using Plo Koon before.

Overall, I give the set a B. As a play set it is pretty good but the bottom and low level of interior detailing lowers the score. No Star Wars collection is complete without a falcon and this set compares well with images of the 2004 play scale set so it is still a buy if you lack one in your Rebel Fleet. Due to the limited range of ships from the movies they all get redone every few years but the price always goes up. It is more expensive but is better in many areas than that set.

I had seen some discussions about the recent sets so I knew that the bottoms were not really getting any attention. Not really much to do about that as it would be a major investment but I will try to get the landing feet a little taller and put some extra bling inside. Luckily my Star Wars Blue Ray should give me plenty of internal details to look at.

I have a single co worker who has all sorts of crazy stuff at home. Sometimes we borrow his stuff to get projects done at work.